Confession of Congressman "X"

A fellow I tried to ignore
Cleared out the Congressional floor
With the unpleasant facts
Of budget cuts, tax,
And Medicare, pensions and war.

Writing in Politico.com, David Rogers distills the reasons that we are still no closer to a debt ceiling deal, even with financial Armageddon looming:

"The bottom line to the debt fight may be a Washington rule of thumb about the two parties:
Democrats hate tough budget votes — as evidenced by the Senate’s failure to even bring up a budget for so long. And Republicans love tough-sounding votes but often fix the deck so they lose and can score political points without having to live with the results.
That’s why the debt ceiling presents such a quandary: It requires both parties to take a tough vote — and it must pass."

Hat tip to Tyler Cowen's Marginal Revolution blog.